Bristol Docs a new initiative for teaching, research and professional studies in documentary media forms, will be launched at Visible Evidence XI, an international conference on documentary on 16 December 2003. Bristol Docs is a partnership between the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Watershed Media Centre.

Alfred Morris, the Vice Chancellor of the University of the West of England, one of the UK’s leading new universities, has written to the Prime Minister proposing an alternative which might reconcile him with back bench critics of existing proposals.

Budding animators are being given the chance to win a place on a three month animation course by taking part in a unique competition launched by The Bristol School of Animation at the University of the West of England.

The eleventh edition of ‘Visible Evidence’ takes place in Bristol, 15-19 December 2003, hosted by Bristol Docs and the School of Cultural Studies at UWE, and the University of Bristol Department of Drama (Theatre, Film, Television), in association with the Watershed Media Centre.

User-friendly artists’ inks – developed in partnership between the University of the West of England and Cwmbran based ink manufacturer Cranfield Colours – have just been rated one of the best knowledge transfer programmes in the country. Team members from the company and UWE’s Centre for Fine Print Research will receive their award at a ceremony at the Department of Trade and Industry in London on 9 December.

The Faculty of Art, Media and Design has recently made two important Drawing Fellowship appointments. The first of these is the UWE Fellowship in Drawing funded by the Henry Moore Foundation which has been awarded to Tania Kovats. Tania’s Fellowship will run from September 2003 until August 2005.

November

Personal Recollections – Cubes exhibition
Explore At-Bristol
30 November to 11 December 2004
An exhibition of work by budding architect-planners and architectural technologists, from the University of the West of England entitled 'Personal Recollections' takes place in Explore-At-Bristol's foyer from 30 November until 11 December 2003. The exhibition shows work from a project set to all first year Architecture and Planning and Architecture, Technology and Design students to design a 25 cm cube revealing aspects of a place that is meaningful to them.

Getting a taste of high-quality work experience can make all the difference to students seeking to make the transition from studying to a graduate-level career. A successful scheme run by the University of the West of England is helping growing numbers of students by finding relevant work experience for them with local big-name employers.

‘Badges’
Foyer Gallery – Bower Ashton Campus, Kennel Lodge Road
University of the West of England 29 November to 4 December 2003

An exhibition of enamel badges designed by the ten members of the etc (enamel, textile and ceramic) applied arts research group at the University of the West of England and invited makers from the art world will be on display in the Foyer Gallery at the Bower Ashton Campus from 29 November to 4 December.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Science to Sir David Frederick Attenborough CH CVO CBE FRS on Thursday 20 November. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at 11.30am at Bristol Cathedral.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts to Professor Sir Christopher John Frayling on Wednesday 19 November. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at 2.45pm at Bristol Cathedral.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Master of Arts to Jack Bridger Chalker ARCA RWA Hon FMAA on Wednesday 19 November. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at 11.30am at Bristol Cathedral.

The Unit for Transport & Society at the University of the West of England has now made available the report of a study carried out earlier this year for the County Surveyors Society. The full title of the study was ‘Implementing Plans for Transport and the Built Environment: Addressing the Short Term Skills Gap in Local Authorities’. The report, based primarily on a survey of CSS members, takes a comprehensive view of issues that local transport authorities in the UK are currently facing and also sets out the various measures which they have taken to address these problems.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Design to George Robin Paget Ferguson this week. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of the Built Environment on Friday 14 November at 2.45pm at Bristol Cathedral.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Education to John Christopher Savage this week. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of the Built Environment on Thursday 13 November at 2.45pm at Bristol Cathedral.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration to John Joseph Burke DL this week. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of Bristol Business School on Thursday 13 November at 11.30am at Bristol Cathedral.

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to Carolyn Kirby at the award ceremony of the Faculty of Law on 7 November at 6.00pm in Bristol Cathedral. The honorary degree is awarded in recognition of Carolyn Kirby’s achievements, in particular her promotion of equality and diversity as the first woman president of the Law Society, which reflects values consistent with those of the University of the West of England.

Appearance Matters is a one day conference organised by the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR), of the University of the West of England in collaboration with the UK charity Changing Faces and supported by the Health Foundation (previously known as the PPP Foundation).

The University of the West of England will award the honorary degree of Master of Arts to Dennis Alexander this week. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Award Ceremony of the Faculty of Humanities Languages and Social Science on 5 November at 11.30am at Bristol Cathedral.

On 4 November 2003 an unusual and eye-catching poster will appear on the outside of the city’s buses.

The poster has been designed by the Graphic Science Unit at the University of the West of England to help draw attention to some of the key issues that cause greenhouse gas emissions and lead to global warming. The aim is to encourage local people to have their say on ways to tackle the problem in Bristol.

Tobacco: Problems & Responses
An International Conference
The Watershed, Friday, November 28, 2003

Martin Plant, Professor of Addiction Studies in the University of the West of England, will be speaking at Tobacco: Problems and Challenges, an international conference organised by the University on 28 November 2003. He said: “Teenage smoking will lead to massive health problems for the next generation. Young girls are more likely to smoke than are boys. Health promotion is important, but this alone is unlikely to curb cigarette smoking among the very young. We need to police tobacconists and other retailers and to impose heavy penalties on those selling tobacco to underage children and adolescents if we are to attack this problem head on. Tobacconists should lose their right to sell tobacco if they flout the law in this way. Effective controls will take tighter and better organised law enforcement. Tobacco is the biggest avoidable health haz

Dr Alan Tapp, a scientist and marketing research expert from Bristol Business School at the University of the West of England has entered into a unique research partnership with the UK’s most successful Direct Marketing Agency, Harrison Troughton Wunderman (HTW). The intention is to establish a long term relationship that is independent of any one project. Work has already begun on research to investigate the monetary value of award winning creative marketing.

Rapid economic growth is transforming Vietnam which, like China, has opened up to outside influences over the past fifteen years. Vietnam’s policy of ‘renovation’, allowing people to own property and run their own businesses, has led to a boom in new privately owned businesses, according to researchers from the University of the West of England (UWE). Typical of the new entrepreneurs are former ‘boat people’ who left the country during the 1980s and are now being encouraged to return.

Glowing Bacteria exhibit shows how scientists test effectiveness of antibiotics – a collaboration between At-Bristol and UWE funded by The Wellcome Trust

UWE biomedical scientists have been working with staff at science attraction At-Bristol on the latest exhibit ‘Glowing Bacteria Lighting up Medical Research’ that will be launched during the October half term.

A series of seminars on aspects of developing learning that will help raise achievement in the city's schools is to be launched by Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor at Bristol University and Professor Stephen Hoddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of the West of England (UWE).

Final preparations are now underway for UWE’s production of Noyes Fludde, which will involve 180 primary school children from Bristol, as well as professional singers, UWE students, choristers from Bristol Cathedral and students from the Old Vic Theatre School.

World famous sociologist, and a UWE Honorary Graduand, Zygmunt Bauman returns to the University on Tuesday 14 October 2003 to launch the new ‘Alternative Series’ at Watershed Media Centre, Bristol. The topic of his public lecture is ‘Generation X and Some Other Generations’, and Professor Bauman will visit Bristol after a hectic year of lecturing across Europe.

Professor Ron Ritchie has recently taken up post as Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of the West of England. Ron Ritchie brings significant local experience and expertise to the role having taught in Bristol secondary and primary schools and having worked in the advisory service locally. He joined UWE in April 2001 as Associate Dean. Prior to that he was Head of Department for Professional Development at Bath Spa University College.

The UWE Bristol Genomics Research Institute will be officially opened by Professor Julia Goodfellow, Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at a special event in the Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, on 17 September 2003 at 4.00pm.

Selecting a University and an appropriate degree course is an important decision and getting as much information as possible is critical. The summer holidays are a key time for deciding on your choice of University – whether for those choosing courses for September 2004 or last minute clearing for this September.

July

Dr Clara Greed, Professor of Inclusive Urban Planning from the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England, has embarked on a two year EPSRC funded project to investigate the role of city centre public toilets in achieving long-term sustainability and making cities more accessible to all. As co-principal-investigator with Professor Julienne Hanson from University College London and partners at the Universities of Salford, Sheffield Hallam and the London Institute the researchers will look at city centre conveniences in relation to the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The Faculty of Law at the University of the West of England has, once again received the rating of 'excellent' for the Legal Practice Course from The Law Society. The Faculty has held the excellent rating for the Legal Practice Course since 1996.

A major grant of £236,670 has been won by the University of the West of England’s Art, Media and Design Faculty to aid research into new ways for fine artists to use digital methods of printing. The three-year research project will include study of the potential of the latest two-metre wide-format printers. This is the latest in a series of grant successes by UWE’s Centre for Fine Print Research, which has now won more than 15 awards from the government’s Arts and Humanities Research Board.

Employers who want to find out which work skills graduates have gained during sandwich degree courses will soon be able find out this information on a new website. Until now, the students’ third year placements in industry or business have been assessed on just four ‘pass or fail’ criteria. This does not adequately record or give credit for the complex skills that a student may have acquired, according to researchers from the University of the West of England (UWE).

The University of the West of England will host the West of England ICT conference on 16 July 2003 at the New Redland Building on Frenchay Campus. This is the second year running that the ICT conference has been hosted by UWE.

If you live near an incinerator, are you more likely to get cancer? Is there an increase in birth defects around landfill sites? Researchers at the University of the West of England set out to answer these questions in an article published in ‘Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal’.

New DNA based technology looks set to supersede blood bank serological testing because more tests can be obtained at a fraction of the time according to a new research consortium* called ‘Bloodgen’ led by scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE). The new technology using gene chips is expected to reduce the risk of problems caused by incompatibility of blood types during transfusion, mainly because rare blood groups are not normally included in a routine screen. Currently the detection of rare blood group incompatibility relies on a test called the ‘cross match’ which is performed immediately prior to transfusion. DNA based testing may lead to the elimination of such a test.

The Right Reverend Barry Rogerson, until recently the Bishop of Bristol, is to be awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of the West of England in recognition of his contribution to the wellbeing of the City and Diocese of Bristol and his commitment to economic and social justice and to ecumenical co-operation world-wide. Barry Rogerson was Bishop of Bristol from 1985 until November 2002.

Three cities from opposite sides of the globe are coming together to tackle a problem they all share ¡V air pollution. A team of researchers from the University of the West of England will work together with local councils, universities and non-governmental organisations in Athens and Bangkok to look at ways of improving air quality in each city. The project is funded under the Asia Urbs programme which is an EC funded initiative in decentralised co-operation aiming to enhance mutual understanding and awareness between Asia and Europe by supporting urban development projects implemented jointly by Asian and European local governments.

Gandalf the wizard, Aragorn, Frodo the Hobbit and Legolas the elf were spotted strolling at Blaise Castle on 28 June. But they were not there to defend Middle Earth against the evil Sauron – instead they mingled amicably with two ringwraiths, one on a riding school pony. The reason: it was all part of a fundraising stunt by Lord of the Rings fans in aid of the National Literacy Trust that will take place in December on the date of the premier of The Return of the King.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), today published the results of its research into the drop-out rate of women from architectural practice. This is the first research of its kind to have been completed. Carried out by the University of the West of England on behalf of the RIBA, the report found that a combination of factors, including poor employment practice, difficulties in maintaining skills and professional networks during career breaks and paternalistic attitudes, cause women to leave the profession.

June

Eight students from the University of the West of England are to receive prizes for the Performing Arts in a special ceremony at the Royal West of England Academy in Clifton on Monday 30 June 2003 at 6.30pm.

Pelvic floor exercises for men have been found to be highly effective in restoring erectile function according to recently published research. Research at the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England, Bristol, shows that pelvic floor exercises result in the same overall improvement rate seen in a large trial of men taking Viagra.

Unique collaboration between UWE, University of Bristol and at-Bristol

A unique collaboration to provide a world class qualification in science communication is being launched by Bristol’s two universities and the award winning science attraction at-Bristol. This exciting award is being launched as a stepping stone giving those who graduate a razor sharp competitive edge in work areas as diverse as journalism, public relations, science centres, educational liaison, publishing and multi-media.

Final year students from the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at the University of the West of England will exhibit their work at the annual Degree Show on 28 June to 1 July 2003 at the Bower Ashton Campus.

The University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE), and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) are pleased to announce the creation of an important social care research collection based in Bristol.

Newton’s Apple
Isaac Newton and the English Scientific Renaissance by Peter Aughton

Peter Aughton, computing specialist and visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England has just published his latest history book entitled ‘Newton’s Apple’. The book is a retelling of the life and times of Sir Isaac Newton and an account of the story of the English Scientific Renaissance of the seventeenth century.

Dr Stephen Gomez, Principal Lecturer in Human Physiology in the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England has won a prestigious national teaching fellowship prize worth £50,000. The prize has been awarded by the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) which was set up in 2000 to reward excellence in teaching and learning. It is administered by the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The University was recently positioned fourth in the Guardian University Guide for the quality of teaching ‘other languages.’ Other languages is the term used for more offbeat and unusual languages than the mainstream French, German and Spanish taught in most Universities with Language schools. At UWE courses offered include Japanese, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, Italian and English as a Foreign Language.

Hamstring injuries result in thousands of missed matches by professional football players with a considerable impact on team performance and serious economic consequences for the clubs involved. Predicting players who are most at risk - and ensuring they receive the right treatment - could ease these effects.

Professor Marilyn Taylor from the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England will give her inaugural lecture on ‘the Art of dissent’ at Arup, St Thomas Street on Thursday 29 May.

Music may never be the same again. As musical genius Brian Eno predicted: “Our grandchildren will marvel at the thought of us listening to the same music over and over again”. A Bristol-based multi-media collective called Socket may be about to prove him right.

‘The Alternative Series 2003’, a series of lectures on contemporary thought organised by the Centre for Critical theory at the University of the West of England, brings John Gray, Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics (LSE), to Bristol to talk on the subject ‘The Myth of Modernity’.

Tobacco: Problems & Responses
An International Conference
The Watershed, Friday, November 28, 2003

The University of the West of England will host an international conference ‘Tobacco: Problems and Responses’, at the Watershed Media Centre in November 2003 providing a platform to examine problems caused by tobacco smoking. The event, in association with two charities, the Alcohol & Health Research Trust and the Addictions Forum, brings together world acclaimed speakers including Professor Sir Richard Dole, who was one of the two researchers to announce to the world the link between smoking tobacco and cancer.

In a unique collaborative venture between Bristol¡¦s two universities, the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health will be launched at special event on 20 May at the centre¡¦s revamped premises on the site of the Old Homeopathic Hospital in Cotham. The opening ceremony will take place at 12.30 in the presence of the Vice Chancellors of the two universities.

On 10 May, 2003 the Bristol Harbourside will once again be filled with the sounds of splashing oars and cheers of the crowds as the ninth annual Bristol Boat Race takes place. Starting at 11.00am, it will go on until approximately 4.30pm with the main University of the West of England versus University of Bristol races beginning at 1.45pm.

April

Professor Glenn Lyons from the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England will deliver his inaugural lecture on ‘Transport and Society’ at Arup, 63 St Thomas Street, Bristol on 1 May 2003. The lecture will begin at 6.00pm and finish by 7.15pm.

Learning disability nursing students from the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England will visit Croatia with the aim of raising funds for Croatian children and adolescents with autism and learning disabilities and to gain experience which will form a valuable part of their training. This trip is the third organised by the Faculty and the students will travel for a two-week period from 3 to 17 May 2003.

Around 100 year 10 pupils from 12 schools in Bristol will visit the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England on 30 April to take part in a hands-on science day to encourage them to make the most of their abilities in science.

A Civil Engineering student from the University of the West of England has won the prestigious Baroness Platt of Whittle award. The award is to be presented to Ben Whayman who is currently studying part time on the BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering award at UWE. The award is given by the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) and based on why the student thinks he will be a talented engineer in the future. The award is open to all university students from all IIE accredited degrees in the country

Revolutionary new software that could dramatically cut project costs in the aero industry has won first prize in the University of the West of England’s Business Plan Competition. The winning plan - called Plexus Manager - is the brainchild of a team of software scientists and engineers. They were presented with their prize – worth a total of £20,000 - at a special prizegiving evening at the University on 10 April.

Fifteen centuries after the Vikings were first attracted to Britain’s shores, a return invasion of a much more peaceful kind has just taken place. Then, finely worked jewellery and armour were among the design skills that influenced both nations. This time, internet-based digital media knowledge was being shared when the University of the West of England led a creative industries study tour to the East Jutland peninsula.

The Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England is to hold an International Week (7 – 11 April) focusing on the international dimension of the Faculty’s work and bringing together colleagues from around Europe.

Staff and students from the St Matthias Campus at the University of the West of England will launch an anthology of creative writing at a special event on Thursday 27 March at 1pm in the St Matthias Union bar.

Members of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England have won a Healing Foundation Fellowship worth £80,000 to study the psycho-social needs of people affected by burn injuries.

Graduates are good news for the economy, but the South West needs to do more to retain and attract the best to work in the region, delegates at an event hosted by the University of the West of England on 26 March 2003 will be told. The information is contained in a report of a survey of over 4000 final year students in the region, commissioned by HERDA-SW, the Higher Education Regional Development Association ¡V South West, and the South West Regional Development Agency.

Members of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England have won a Healing Foundation Fellowship worth £80,000 to study the psycho-social needs of people affected by burn injuries.

The Alternative Series of public seminars organised by the Centre for Critical Theory at the University of the West of England begins its third season at the Watershed Media Centre on Tuesday 25 March.

The University of the West of England is opening a new nursing education centre at the University of Bath Campus in Swindon. The Swindon Education Centre was originally located at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Aggregates such as sand, gravel and crushed rock form the mainstay of construction materials for buildings and roads. Assessing the suitability of materials for different tasks is determined using different test methods. One important method is called petrography which is a time consuming manual process carried out by highly trained geologists, in order to acquire information on the petrographic composition of the aggregate particles. Engineers from the University of the West of England are working on a collaborative project to devise an automated vision based method capable of carrying out this analysis more speedily but just as efficiently as manual petrography. The project will involve the determination of fundamental properties of the particles, namely size and shape.

Public toilets are a national disgrace and have not been given adequate priority in urban design according to UWE researcher Clara Greed’s new book ‘Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets’. Clara has famously campaigned for better public toilet provision and her research has been the focus of very considerable media attention.

The University of the West of England’s Regional History Centre is holding a one day conference which takes a closer look at Late Medieval Bristol and its region on Saturday 15 March at St Matthias Campus.

What happens to your brain when you miss out on sleep will be revealed during a series of talks organised by the University of the West of England’s Faculty of Applied Sciences. The events will also include the latest news on the effect of drugs or mobile phones on brain health, and have been arranged as part of Brain Awareness Week.

- 07/03/2003

EMBARGO MONDAY 10 MARCH 00.01 HOURS

Older people vulnerable to homelessness have become the ‘forgotten homeless’ in policy debates and service provision according to a report by researchers at the University of the West of England from the Faculty of Health and Social Care.

Between 50 to 70 twelve and thirteen year olds from schools in Bristol and Bath will be visiting UWE on Saturday 8 March to find out whether maths and dance really do go together. This visit is arranged as part of the Wessex Mathematics Masterclass programme supported by the Universities of Bristol, Bath and West of England and by the Royal Institution

The Centre for Performing Arts at the University of the West of England presents the delightful musical ‘Half a Sixpence’ loosely based on the H G Wells novel ‘Kipps’ at the QEH Theatre from 11 to 15 March.

The University of the West of England celebrates ten years as a University with an exciting musical evening featuring the world premiere of a specially commissioned work by Derek Bourgeois and one of the largest choirs in the West.

The headlines used to shout ‘urban deprivation’ and ‘urban riots’ but now we read about the ‘urban renaissance’ and the ‘urban summit’ organised by John Prescott to celebrate cities and chart the new urban future. This lecture will explore the rhetoric and reality of the shift in perception of our towns and cities.

Media and design students from the University of the West of England will showcase project work produced during the Graduate Placement Scheme 2001/2002 that involved twelve media companies at a special exhibition at Watershed Media Centre on Tuesday 4 March.

The University of the West of England and Watershed have come together to appoint Dr Mark Palmer as the first Watershed Senior Research Fellow from January 2003. Dr Palmer will lead the research dimension of a key collaborative project entitled ‘ D-Shed’, a new on-line channel that will showcase new talent and innovation in digital media. He will also teach at the Faculty of Art, Media and Design on expanding MA and doctoral Media programmes.

Pedestrian-unfriendly environments and the closure of local facilities could result in inactivity and obesity, posing a long-term threat to children’s health. These points were made at the launch of the first comprehensive guide for developing healthy settlements, written by researchers from the University of the West of England. Launching the guide, environmental campaigner Jonathan Porritt called for planners to put public health and sustainability at the heart of development control.

Group for Learning in Art and Design conference 20 and 21 February 2003 - Watershed

Over 130 delegates representing all the nations Art Colleges will attend the 10th annual GLAD conference at the Watershed Media Centre today and tomorrow. Hosted by UWE¡¦s Faculty of Art, Media and Design the conference provides a chance to devise a collective approach to widening participation issues

School pupils from four Weston-Super-Mare schools will present their solutions to a maths problem involving establishing the sex of seagull chicks using measurements, at the University of the West of England on Wednesday 19 February.

Building work has just begun to create an incubator unit to support media businesses of the future. Focusing on the potential for electronic media, the unit will be known as e-Media. It will link high-tech managed office and meeting space with advice and mentoring from financial and digital media experts via the University of the West of England.

January

Launch at the Institute of Historical Research at the
University of London, 30 January

The Bristol Slave Trade will be brought to life for schoolchildren with the launch of a teaching website developed by researchers at the Regional History Centre at the University of the West of England. The project is sponsored by the Victoria County History Project of the Institute of Historical Research of London University and is part of a larger project on Bristol’s History which is currently being considered for Heritage Lottery Funds. The web site builds on the Bristol Slavery Trail and includes teachers’ notes; lesson plans and a large range of hitherto unpublished documents.

UWE and Watershed have signed an agreement to boost the region's media arts to coincide with the City's 2008 Capital of Culture bid. The new agreement is designed to build on the long history of collaborative working by developing a range of new strategic initiatives to expand the opportunities for promoting new talent and innovation in digital media. These initiatives include a new on-line channel, Digital Shed to showcase new talent and innovation in digital media, as well as investment in Watershed

Older people living in private rented accommodation are suffering neglect and abuse according to a report by researchers at the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol. Commissioned and funded by Help the Aged the report, launched today, shows that older people are being abused and mistreated by some private landlords and that there are deficiencies in the legal system which prevents older people from getting adequate protection or redress.

Mathematicians and Engineers at the University of the West of England will demonstrate to a group of year 10 pupils how mathematics can be used to solve problems in rocket launching, cooking burgers and controlling robots. The pupils from Haygrove School in Bridgwater will attend a series of workshops at the University on Thursday 23 January 2003.

Eleven bright ideas for businesses of the future have been selected to go through to the next stage of the University of the West of England’s £20k Business Plan Competition. Twenty-one outline business plans were initially received from staff and student teams following the competition’s launch last November. The competition is being run for the second year and is organised by UWE’s Centre for Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies. The shortlisted finalists were chosen by competition judges and sponsors Burges Salmon, Business Link, ICON Corporate Finance, Royal Bank of Scotland and Solomon Hare.

Animation students at the University of the West of England will soon enjoy professional quality facilities with the opening of a new studio in the Animation Unit at the Faculty of Art, Media and Design.

Marine ecotourism is being heralded as an important new strategy for the sustainable regeneration of coastal communities in the EU Atlantic Area. A group of researchers from the University of the West of England, Bristol, have examined the potential for marine ecotourism during a three-year study, culminating in a report entitled ‘Planning for Marine Ecotourism in the EU Atlantic Area: Transnational Policy Lessons’.

A researcher at the University of the West of England has found that the majority of teenagers are upset by teasing or bullying about their appearance and she has devised a set of coping strategies to help them deal with this problem.